1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rotatable wedge spacer having a curved (i.e., circular) body to be removably located between a pair of adjacent tiles that are bonded to a vertically-extending substrate (i.e., a wall) by means of mortar, or the like, so as to preserve the original positions of the tiles relative to one another as the mortar solidifies. The circular body of the rotatable wedge spacer represents an improvement over the conventional triangular wedge spacer having a linear body.
2. Background Art
To enhance the ornamental appearance of a wall or other flat surface inside a home, around a pool, or at a commercial building complex, it is common to bond decorative tiles to the wall. That is, a variety of colored and/or ornamental tiles are traditionally bonded to the wall by means of mortar or a similar adhesive material. The tiles are usually separated from one another by a gap, and the gap is filled with grout, or the like.
Particularly in the case of a vertical wall, the tiles are known to shift relative to one another by sliding under the influence of gravity during the time required for the mortar to set and harden. Consequently, the gaps between adjacent pairs of tiles will not be uniform, whereby the final tile configuration will appear uneven or unbalanced. As the mortar dries, it may become more difficult and/or time-consuming to relocate the tiles to their original positions, especially where many tiles have shifted closer together.
To overcome the problem of the tiles sliding over a surface to which they are to be adhesively bonded, it is known to insert a planar wedge spacer into the gap between a pair of adjacent tiles. What is more, because the tiles often vary slightly in size, an adjustable height spacer is needed to compensate for these size variations in order to obtain uniform grout joints. Referring in this regard to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is shown a conventional planar wedge spacer 1. The conventional wedge spacer 1 has a triangular body 3 and a continuous linear tile-supporting top surface 5 that extends between a relatively narrow tip 7 at one end of the body 3 and a wide back 9 at the opposite end of the body. The conventional planar wedge spacer 1 is manufactured from plastic and typically has a maximum length (along the linear top surface 5) of about 2.9 cm and a maximum height (at the back 9) of about 8 mm. It may be appreciated that the height of the triangular body 3 of wedge spacer 1 varies continuously along the top surface 5 between the tip 7 and the back 9.
FIGS. 2A and 2B of the drawings show the conventional planar wedge spacer 1 after being inserted in a gap 11 established between a pair of adjacent tiles 13 and 15 that are located one above the other to be adhesively bonded to an upstanding vertical wall 17 by means of a layer of mortar 19. The tip 7 of wedge spacer 1 is pushed inwardly through the gap 11 so as to be held in place between the tiles 13 and 15 by the mortar 19. As best shown in FIG. 2A, the upper tile 13 of the pair of tiles 13 and 15 to be spaced from one another will engage the tile supporting surface 5 atop the triangular body 3 of the planar wedge spacer 1 to prevent the upper tile 13 from sliding towards the lower tile 15 in order to preserve the gap 11 therebetween.
The conventional planar wedge spacer 1 of FIG. 1 is only effective where the pair of tiles 13 and 15 are separated by a relatively narrow gap 11 in the manner shown at FIG. 2A. However, the same planar wedge spacer 1 may not be effective in cases where the gap 11 is very wide and/or the tiles 13 and 15 are thin. Because the tile engaging top surface 5 is planar, the triangular body 3 of the wedge spacer 1 can be pushed only a short distance through the gap 11 until the tip 7 strikes the wall 17 through the mortar 19. Thus, much of the triangular body 3 of planar wedge spacer 1 (particularly the back 9 thereof with the greatest height) remains outside the gap 11 and plays no role in keeping the tiles 13 and 15 apart. Therefore, in certain situations, a single planar wedge spacer 1 like that described above may not be adequate to prevent the upper tile 13 from sliding along the wall 17 and shifting its position towards the lower tile 15.